freeboard video for your media project free media r.t. dot com. latest news and the week's top stories the egyptian president gives up his controversial new powers stands firm on a draft constitution referendum says the opposition refuses to back down. amounts among western nations that syria may on leash its chemical weapons to quash the rebels many wonder if it's all just a pretext for a rocky start invasion. and israel has drawn the wrath of the international community this week with major powers than the u.n. than bastin the country's legal decision to extend the settlement building on palestinian lands.

you're watching the weekly news review with me carrie johnston. egypt's president has scrapped the decree that had given him sweeping new powers and effectively put him above the law of the land but the opposition says that's not enough as a referendum on the controversial draft constitution. for next week while the military has stepped in to act as a buffer between the warring sides it's beefing up a barricade around the presidential palace which has come under attack from protesters for the very latest on these developments his journalist bill true. it does come as a bit of a surprise at the moment as people really think you know the president wouldn't move on his stance against the opposition forces demands yesterday saturday they had a meeting which was dubbed the national dialogue meeting between political party leaders and the president and his cabinet notably some of the key opposition forces the former national salvation front that are behind the protests in city. in the last

few weeks not present the results of the controversial constitution that gratian would be revoked which of course was president morsi sweeping powers which is part of one of the demands of the opposition forces and widely seen as a good move however they run them on the constitution which the opposition forces see to be illegitimate as it was drafted by islamist clinching the creation constituent assembly would go ahead on the fifteenth and this is why the problem lies the opposition forces replied yesterday saying that the results of the meeting with meaningless as the president hasn't seen to move forward with their demand against this referendum other groups said that it was really just another form of deception this comes after the military stepped up security around the presidential palace behind me in the last two days that you see to statement yesterday saying that they were calling for dialogue as this was the only way to get the nation out of its crisis implying that perhaps they were willing to take a role in the ongoing situation in egypt we've seen quite

a lot of violence on the streets since this one second in november when this concert of the victory was announced by the president as rival groups have met in class which is actually the deaths of at least seven people on wednesday we have yet to see really what will happen in the in the coming future the president keeps by this referendum and i'm sure that the opposition forces won't move to really even though we had this development yesterday at this meeting they're still looking at a divided egypt political deadlock or the opposition unwilling to back down the some observers say president mercy is facing and you have addition could spiral into civil war. if there was that if the vote goes you can marshal forces in to get the constitution passed. and i think the opposition knows that you can do that there are forward they want to stop that but i think we're going to protest there is a leadership that was once here is that they want to start the process all over

again it was zero zero actually they want to see new elections maybe one new orleans and new constituent assembly and a new constitution so what are you going to do you're going to try to kick them out of power if you try to change good match after numerous a civil war risk we're seeing the islamists into the streets is an obvious population who makes up. i don't know or. so where it's a very very dangerous situation it's my own situation. where rebel groups from across syria are uniting under one military command and the latest western backed effort to topple president bashar al assad fares are also being voiced in the west that the regime may use its chemical weapons arsenal to root out opposition fighters something the government denies what is going to check out investigates home close is a foreign intervention. u.s.

officials said intelligence agencies have detected that assad's government has been preparing its chemical weapons stockpiles for possible use the obama administration's message to syria the u.s. is ready to act if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable there will be consequences. there will be consequences we have sent a unmistakable message that this would cross a red line next how does america the media quickly picked up on the alarming news of the syrian government's alleged plans citing secret intelligence for fox news confirms that syrian troops now have the deadly nerve agent sarin gas weaponized and at the ready the syrian government flatly denied the possibility saying it would not use such weapons against its people. we would not commit suicide we feel there's a conspiracy to provide a pretext for any subsequent interventions in syria by these countries they're

doing creasing pressure on syria the syrian government sure knows that if they use chemical weapons it would give nato and some of their arab neighbors who are itching to intervene in syria the green light to go ahead with their plans damascus itself says it would be suicidal for them to do so but with the fear and the hype building up over the use of chemical weapons against civilians in syria it seems the us might be preparing grounds to jump the gun on this one the jumping the gun scenario is not new for the u.s. almost twenty years ago the bush administration confidently presented false evidence to invade iraq america's cited bogus intelligence on saddam hussein's chemical weapons that never existed the invasion triggered a civil war that killed more than one hundred thousand innocent iraqis and years later all washington had to say about this was the president thought it was correct congress thought it was right of course i regret that it turned out a lot of it was wrong in the run up to the iraq invasion the us media was

instrumental in selling the case to the public the congress never had any proof ever present ever of weapons of mass destruction all came from tony blair cheney and bush and congress who writes now that the us has drawn a red line on syria it has made it clear it's ready to take action but how i'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of. a credible evidence that the assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people but suffice it to say we are certainly planning to. take action if that eventuality were to occur to american warships are already near the syrian coast with some ten thousand. u.s. marines and dozens of fighter jets on board on top of that nato is sending american german and dutch batteries of patriot anti-aircraft missiles to turkey's border

with syria meaning hundreds more u.s. and european troops will be deployed to the frontier nato says deploying patriot missiles along syrian borders is a defensive step to prevent syria from attacking turkey i don't think there's any requirement whatsoever for patriot batteries on the ground in turkey again the patriot missiles are designed to really protect primarily against incoming theater ballistic missiles or aircraft the syrians are not going to attack the turks the turks of the most powerful military establishment in the region the largest army in nato intervention in syria will be as bad if not worse than what we experienced in iraq the pentagon said they would need seventy five thousand troops to secure syria's weapons of mass destruction the question on everyone's mind is are they seriously considering that kind of a mess of intervention because that could mean another you rock coming soon and invasion that could be followed by years of bloody civil war in washington i'm

going to check and. meanwhile another troubling video appeared on the internet early this week very five footage shows what's claimed to be a rebel fighter using chemical weapons on the boat you babbitts after the test a masked man that threatens to use the poison and supporters of the sun. with wilkinson the former chief of staff to secretary of state colin powell says the u.s. could very well be preparing for a ground invasion. why in the world would we put patriot batteries on the turkish border ostensibly to protect turkey with the largest army and the most powerful army in the region indeed one of the most powerful in the world turkey major no protection by us from that sort of thing and it would be utterly. utterly stupid for assad to attack turkey in that way so why are we doing these things that look like they aren't connected to reality unless reality is we're preparing the ground to intervene in syria i think also that it would be again a back door as

a war into iran which is the as you well know the real threat that we've been putting out there for years now and i think we're looking at syria and iran being a combination that we would then take on and you're talking about in my view a conflict that becomes regional and maybe even wider. just ahead for you disunited states reports on the ground the separatism sites and such that's already made up to a million people go in the section on the chin to. the recession with the brits at bases of a static as the government announces the extension of its cuts program tells a story much more of this will bring.

wedge issues do just what their name implies they get between people and drive them apart like a wage and these issues seem to always take the forefront in the media it's things like abortion gun rights marijuana legalization and the weather well the weather isn't really a west. people sure talk about it way too much there's only so much room in the national discourse and these wage issues just eat up all of the time and attention but the thing is that there is a little something called the tenth amendment you know the. and that says that any powers that are specifically delegated the federal government are reserved for the states and last time i checked the constitution doesn't have a special weed clause saying that marijuana has to be an all or nothing a national proposal and that goes for abortion and most of the wedge issues also there's a simple answer all these wedge issues just left the states make up their own ma ains but then again without wedge issues what would the mainstream media have to distract us with but that's just my opinion.

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as an environmental cost which is unacceptable no two business was labeled illegal and controlled by criminals you know in order to protect our lives our families and to work in peace. moves. we are forced to pay protection to illegal groups water prices colombia going to pay. the modest effect on r.t. . wealthy british style. markets why not ground. why not what's really happening to the global economy

with max culture there are no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser report on r g. this is artie's weekly news review israel said earlier in the week it will continue its settlement expansion in palestinian territories the move provoked a quick response from the united nations which said it would be a fatal blow to any future peace efforts. to secure general has made clear that as we've repeatedly said settlements are illegal under international law. he has repeated his call on all concerned to resume negotiations and intensify efforts towards a comprehensive just and lasting peace and also in the interests of peace he said that any plans specifically for the. envelope must be rescinded.

while the decision to authorize more settler homes came after last week's un vote upgrading the diplomatic status of the palestinians up bringing them a step closer to achieving full statehood israel responded saying west bank i thought it was trying to avoid direct peace talks by seeking when recognition international affairs experts of it says the israeli government is trying to score political points before next month's parliamentary elections. and if and yet who is scoring domestic points and is definitely positioning this. as a bid for victory in january while risking the loss of even those plans of israel on capitol hill who have been very staunch very firm and very reliable so far and such as that. geopolitical move would have

a long term consequences in the sense that they will be no two state solution my sense is that netanyahu is on slippery slope if and when this goes ahead that means that he will try to impose upon the united states at a complete but with this administration it says that. britain is edging towards the feature hand in hand with austerity as the government extends its a massive cuts program for five more years the country's finance minister insisted that the tax hikes would ate the u.k. struggling economy on the surface reports. well everyone now madly picking their way through the facts and figures and while was there a lot of. one thing that was very very clear and so the u.k. is set to face even more austerity no what those figures showed us was that the u.k. economy is going to shrink by not point one percent five hundred twenty twelve now

it sounds like a small amount but of course no sign of that all important in fact what we see is that borrowing has gone up the debt has risen and fallen and most crucially i think is probably the fact that the government have missed the reduction target so we're now facing an extended austerity program is going to take its right away three to twenty eightieth's a pretty gloomy outlook and this is what we were expecting a bit of course that's going to really not be more millions of families all across the again to one thing here and of course this is really getting seated in real terms have to speak to us more about this or some statement by the chance that today i'm joined by a labor m.p. and the public i said a public health minister thank you for joining us so the british economy is slowly healing according to chancellor george osborne what was your reaction to that well i thought that was

a very silly statement the truth is every prophecy every target of. he has failed he has not met his targets he's not going to do with the deficit he said the road growth will grow and also there's going to be a huge cart made in benefits pavement to some of the poorest people because we are going to suffer the most i was resolved to go for it and there's no end to this all started something i wanted to talk to about because we saw that just one percent for the benefit of the welfare bill and that's less than inflation you know that's really going to hit a huge no. it's about forty seven billion pounds from the benefits bill and we're talking about farmers is a really on the bread line anyway even losing ten twenty pounds a week is a big hit i mean it's a very cold day outside and it's a very cold prospect for britain's pool because they are going to bear the brunt of

the thirty calls by britons by all school doesn't know what he's doing thank you very much for joining us that also cause the concern as they said their own picking through the thing is one thing cutting through all the waste and that's the case is going to have to pray so they even talk. even more starting. belgium is on high terrorist alert report online today that's ahead of the release party provocative film exploring is not was an operational areas around the u.s. pastor. and tens of thousands in kuwait demand the dissolution of elected parliament the pictures don't put. it in prime minister mario monti who heads a non-elected cabinet of technocrats says he plans to resign news came just hours after the country's former pm so we're both skinny announced he's to run for office

in next year's parliamentary elections on thursday but it's going to people of freedom party withdrew it from the government he says auntie's austerity policies home and italy and that he hoped to be the country out of the financial crisis and seventy six year old has already served as if his prime minister for three separate terms is currently caught up in a number of scandals using tax fraud convictions which he's appealing and accusations of paying for sex with an underage prostitute something he denies. as well in president chavez has announced he's suffering from cancer once again the distance tests show the return. somewhat movement cells in the same area where tumors had been previously removed he said to return to cuba where he's already received the cancer treatment to undergo surgery in the coming days and news comes two months after travers was reelected as president in a tight vote. for u.s.

drone attack on what's believed to be a militant hideout has left at least three people dead in pakistan four missiles struck a residential compound in the north waziristan province early on sunday despite demands by pakistan for an end to attacks by unmanned a croft the country's restive tribal belt is often targeted by u.s. drones with washington claiming it and targets insurgents. the americans in their hundreds of thousands across the states have gone online to say they want their region to be independent from washington he's been a part not trying to find out why some u.s. nationals are eager to reap the stars and stripes apart. from the. war to launder here's a former colony won the right to terminate its own destiny. the test of perfecting our european moves forward. for weeks following barack obama's reelection nearly one million americans have

moved forward by campaigning to break apart all fifty states have filed online petitions with the white house requesting to peacefully secede from this so-called perfecting union a movement that's garnered more than thirty thousand signatures in north carolina where many like michael toggled. see independence as a symbol may twentieth a consistent one is the day that north carolina sated from the union and america's stars and stripes ripping at the seams there's no doubt in my mind that it is inevitable i mean something like this with the the debt this country has with the growing disunion among in the among the people they can't last forever and that's the lesson of history big empires always collapse on their own weight secession supporters like bernard first some say washington's weight of growing debt and loose wars government intrusion and a broken immigration system has become a bipartisan destructive force it's beyond reform you can't reform that federal

government whether it's the republicans in charge or obama basically of the republicans are just as bad as far as we're concerned they're corrupt and are out of touch in southern former confederate states like north carolina culture and social issues play a big role for those like harold cruz who believes the u.s. is too big and thus destined to fail north carolina and the south general. were different country already and the united states and we simply need our own government we have different values different belief systems critics have dismissed secessionists as disgruntled voters angry over president obama's second term however in this you thousand a presidential election obama became the first democrat in more than thirty years to win north carolina a red state turned blue with the promise of change four years later tens of thousands of voters in the very same state believe they'd be better off on their

own. the average american the things they believe in they're tired of the endless wars and here we are talking about invading iran now i can't think of anything more the white house meanwhile promises to review and issue an official response to all petitions with twenty five thousand or more. signatories at least seven states fit that category that we used to be on the interstate driving along at thirty five miles an hour by ourselves with the session as a goal now we're being passed on both sides and lanes by people going faster than we are and it's amazing because here we were thought to be radical fifteen or ten years ago and now we're mainstream. a mainstream movement to move apart marina portnoy arts. are coming up next the gold rush in colombia where the search for the legendary lost city of eldorado continues.

today. these are the images. from the streets of canada. operations. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for langley you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture.

thanks.

d.l. selenski oh mine is absolute proof of what human ambition is capable of in order to satisfy its hunger for gold. it spreads out into forty four levels under the earth is the oldest mine in colombia and the second deepest in latin america. which. it is two thousand five hundred.